George



(No Model.)

G.G.LOAR.

GAR COUPLING. No. 297,942. Patented Apr. 29,1884.

' INYENTOR:

* ATTORNEYS.

UNITED STATES PATE T FFI E.

GEORGE c. LOAR, OF oUINoY, ILLINOIS, AssIG'NoR oE ONE-HALF To JOSEPH L.MORGAN, OF SAME PLACE.

CAR-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 297,942, dated April29, 1884.

Application filed October 9, 1883. (No model.)

To all whom it mag concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE O. LOAR, a

I citizen of the United States, residing at Quincy,

in the county of Adams and State of Illinois, have invented a new anduseful Improvement in Oar-Couplings; .and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section ofthe draw-head, showing its attachment to a car. Fig. 2 is an end View,partly in section. Figs. 3 and 4 are perspective views of the form oflinks employed; and Fig. 5 is an enlarged cross section of the operatingrod, taken through line a; a: of Fig. 1, and showing the grooves in thesame.

The object of my invention is to provide a. coupling for cars whichmaybe operated automatically by the cars coming together, or by handthrough the instrumentality of certain peculiar devices, and whichcoupling shall be adapted to cars of different heights of drawbar. Theseobjects are attained by a novel construction and arrangement of partswhich I will now proceed to describe.

In the drawings, A represents a box-shaped inclosure having an open topand front sides, and having two rigid and strongly attached bars, B,projecting from the rear of the same, and adapted to be fastenedunderneath the bottom of the car. In the box-shaped inclosure A thereslides vertically the adjustable draw-head G. This draw-head has itsgreatest length transversely to the car, and at its ends has grooves a,which fit over vertical ribs b, firmly attached to the sides of theinclosure A, and which bear the draft-strain. To prevent breakingstrains on' these ribs, however, from the impact of the cars in comingtogether, the draw-head O'r'ests solid against the back wall of theinclosure A. The draw-head G has a tapering opening in its front edge toreceive the coupling-link D, which is made with a rectangular holethrough each end, and tapered or chisel-shaped ends. On top of thedraw-head is arranged a housing, 0, in which is arranged a verticalbolt, E, reaching down into the throat of the draw-head, and havingabove it a spiral spring, F, that forces it down.

The lower end of this bolt is beveled on its front side, and when thelink enters the throat it forces up this bolt against its spring, and assoon as the hole in the link passes under the bolt the spring forces thelatter down through the hole and couples the cars. Just behind thespring-bolt there is formed at the lower back end of the mouth a recesshaving an overhanging ledge, 0, into which recess is received the end ofthe link-bar D, and which overhanging ledge serves to hold the outer endof the link-bar up in true horizontal ,position, ready to be thrust intothe draw-bar of the car to which it is to be coupled.

It frequently happens that the draw-bar of one car is higher or lowerthan the next, or one car may have its draw-bar lower than the next, byreason of a very heavy load. This is especially the case infreight-cars. To provide for this difficultythe draw-head O is madevertically adjustable over the. ribs b, and for fixing this adjustment alarge screw, G, is arranged in a threaded hole in the bottom plate, A ofthe inclosure A,

and bears at its upper end against the drawhead, so as to raise or lowerthesaine. This screw is provided at its lower end with a hand-wheel orhandle, d, and has also rigidly attached to it a ratchet-wheel, e, andjust above this ratchet-wheel is sustained a bar, H, which I call aleveling-bar, its function being to hold the draw-head levelin itsdifferent adjustments. This leveling-bar has at its opposite ends pinsff, which pass up through holes in the bottom plate, A, of the inclosureA and bear against the draw-head upon opposite sides of the set-screw tohold the drawhead level. Upon the bottom side of the levcling-bar is adetent, g, which engages with the ratchet-wheel e on the set-screw tohold it to its position after the draw-head has been" adjusted.

I will now describe the devices for uncoupling the cars after they arecoupled.

. at the top for turning it.

fastened chains j j, which connect with rods k k, running to the sidesof the car. To the drum is also connected a chain, k, that passes over apulley, 7.1 on top the housing 0', and connects with the spring-bolt E.When the drum is turned or rotated, it will be seen that a draft isbrought on this chain It, which lifts the bolt E and permits thelink-bar to be withdrawn and the cars to be uncoupled. To rotate thedrum J for uncoupling the cars, this may be accomplished either from thetop or the sides of the car.

For uncoupling from the top, the shaft I extends to the top of the car,and'is journaled in a bar or offset, Z, and has a hand wheel or crank Tohold this shaft after it has been turned to uncouple the cars, longnotches or grooves m are formed in the up per end of the shaft, and adetent, a, is pivoted to the offset 1 and engages with said notches.This, it will be seen, holds the spring-bolt E after it is drawn back inan open position, so that it does not immediately close upon thelink-bar again. The object in making these notches or grooves long is topermit the shalt I to rise and fall as the draw-head is adjusted up anddown, and still allow the detent to cooperate with said shaft.

For operating the spring-bolt from the side of the cars, the rods k arearranged to pass through eyes on each side of the car, and have teeththat engage with said eyes to hold them to their position when they aredrawn back to rotate the drums.

To protect the draw-head and its attached parts from the weather andkeep out snow and dirt, a cover may be placed over the top and frontsides of the inclosure or draw-head box A, a hole in the middle beingleft in the cover where the mouth of the draw-head opens.

In coupling with ears of a different construction from that described byme, I provide a link-bar, M, one end of which is provided with anopening or bolt-hole, and the other end of which is enlarged to thedimensions of a drawhead, and is made hollow and provided with apin-hole to be coupled to an ordinary form of link.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is 1. Thecombination of the inclosure A, draw head 0, arranged transversely tothe car, and provided with spring-seated locking-bolt E, set-screw G,and means for holding the drawhead level in its adj ustments, as setforth.

2. The combination, with the draw-head C, arranged at right angles tothe length of the car, the set-screw G, leveling-bar H, with pins orsupports f f, the ratchet-wheel e, and detent g, as and for the purposedescribed.

3. The combination, with the draw-head having spring-seated locking-boltE, arranged vertically above the same, of a vertical shaft,

I, and drum J, and a chain or flexible connection extending from thedrum to the said bolt, as described.

4. The combination of the draw-head C, having spring-bolt E, the shaftI, with drum J, and a chain connecting said drum to the bolt, and theside rods, 7:, having chains connecting them to the drum, as set forth.

5. The combination. with the vertically-adjustable draw-head 0, havingspring-bolt E, the shaft and drum I J, connected with the bolt E bychains, and swiveled in the draw-head, the upperend ofsaid shaftbeingnotched or grooved longitudinally, and provided with a detent,substantially as set forth.

6. The link-bar M, having an opening in one end, and having the otherenlarged and made hollow, and provided with a pin-hole to form asupplemental draw-bar, as described.

GEORGE G. LOAR.

Vitnesses:

L. E. EMMONS, A. \V. WELLs.

